HAMBURG, Germany — Miroslav Klose scored one goal and set up two more as Germany outclassed the Netherlands 3-0 in an international friendly on Tuesday.
Klose set up Thomas Mueller to score in the 15th minute, added his 63rd international goal in the 26th and combined brilliantly with Mesut Oezil for the Real Madrid midfielder to score in the 66th.
"It was an embarrassing game for us, to lose 3-0 to our neighbors — and fully deserved — that hurts," said Netherlands coach Bert Van Marwijk.
"Germany are unbelievably strong at recovering the ball. They could do it before, but now they can play football too."
His side threatened early on with Wesley Sneijder firing over from distance and Klaas Jan Huntelaar — who wore a protective mask after breaking his nose on Nov. 3 — seeing his effort turned away for a corner.
Germany captain Klose could have scored a couple more, but is now five goals behind Germany's all-time topscorer Gerd Mueller.
Regular captain Philipp Lahm was rested, while Bastian Schweinsteiger missed the game with a broken collarbone.
It was Germany's first win over its traditional rival since 1996.
Klose, who missed Friday's 3-3 draw in Ukraine because of a sore knee, looked sharp from the first minute, when he controlled the ball on his chest before firing narrowly wide.
Toni Kroos played an outstanding cross from the left to find the Lazio striker on the right of the penalty area, and Klose cut the ball back for Mueller to finish crisply from 10 meters (yards).
"We started well. When you look at the goals, I'm not sure which was the nicest," Mueller said.
Mueller was involved in the next after combining with Oezil, who curled a perfect cross for Klose to head into the corner.
Klose almost added another in the 40th but Oezil's delicate cross was just out of reach, and the 33-year-old Klose was twice denied by goalkeeper Maarten Stekelenburg in the second half as both sides pushed forward.
Germany's third goal was the result of intelligent positioning and quick passing, with Mueller running at the Dutch defense before finding Oezil, who played a clever one-two with Klose and then tapped the ball into the empty net.
"The goals were all outstanding," said Germany coach Joachim Loew, before adding of the 2012 European Championship in Poland and Ukraine. "It's a long half-year away and things can look different then ... A lot can change in football. Whether we manage (to maintain the good form) — that, of course, is the question."